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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3 learn of the death of Elmer Jenkins of Benton, Illinois, who
4 passed away on November 3, 2006; and
 
5     WHEREAS, He was born May 5, 1920, in Westville, to Anna
6 (Lepengy) and Fred Jenkins; and
 
7     WHEREAS, Elmer could read before he began grammar school,
8 and he read the newspaper to people who gathered at the
9 neighborhood grocery in the morning; and
 
10     WHEREAS, He was Benton High School class president all four
11 years and played violin in the school orchestra; he later
12 taught himself to play the clarinet; Elmer loved classical
13 music and New Orleans Dixieland, and his favorite song was
14 clarinetist Pete Fountain's rendition of "Just a Closer Walk
15 with Thee"; and
 
16     WHEREAS, Following his high school graduation, Elmer
17 joined the United States Navy, serving at sea as part of the
18 engine room "black gang" crew; while in the Navy and prior to
19 World War II, he sailed U.S. ships as part of the United States
20 Lend Lease effort; he completed his Navy tour serving on a
21 tugboat based in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, having traversed the
22 Panama Canal eight times; and
 
23     WHEREAS, He entered the University of Illinois after his
24 tour of duty, but left school the day after Pearl Harbor was
25 bombed by the Japanese and signed up for air cadet training in
26 the U.S. Army Air Corps; he earned his wings and was
27 commissioned as an officer; during World War II, Elmer served
28 in Australia and the Philippines as a test and transport pilot
29 with the 5th Air Force, 15th Air Depot Group; he flew nurses
30 out of a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines, supervised

 

 

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1 the reassembly of P-47s that had come from the United States,
2 carried parts and retrieved downed planes, tested newly
3 repaired planes, and flew almost every airship in our country's
4 arsenal, his favorite was the P-38; while in the Army Air
5 Corps, Elmer met two fellow servicemen who became special
6 friends for a lifetime: Joe Kirkham and Danny Scruggs; Elmer
7 left the service with the rank of captain; and
 
8     WHEREAS, Upon returning from World War II, he entered the
9 University of Illinois College of Law; and
 
10     WHEREAS, While he was attending law school, he held down
11 three jobs to pay expenses and support his growing family;
12 after he graduated from law school and successfully passed the
13 Illinois bar exam, Elmer worked for the Federal Bureau of
14 Investigation in its Kansas City, Missouri office; he later
15 returned to Benton, where he entered private practice in 1948;
16 and
 
17     WHEREAS, For many years, Elmer was retained by Freeman Coal
18 Company as its compensation attorney; early in his professional
19 career as an attorney, Elmer clerked for the Illinois Supreme
20 Court, and in 2003, he was named an Illinois State Bar
21 Association laureate; and
 
22     WHEREAS, He was a member of the Benton Masonic Lodge, a
23 75-year member of the First Baptist Church of Benton, and was a
24 Shriner; he enjoyed golf, skiing, traveling, his dogs, trail
25 riding on horseback, gardening, the Benton Rangers, and seeing
26 the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series; and
 
27     WHEREAS, Elmer Jenkins was preceded in death by his parents
28 and his brother, Louis; he is survived by his wife, Lois
29 Jenkins; his daughters, Nancy Hobbs and her husband, Larry,
30 Patty Novara, Ellen Curry and her husband, David, and Kathleen
31 DaNato and her husband, Rick; his stepchildren, Mark Samuels,

 

 

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1 Lyndy Girten and her husband, Don, and Terrie Vercellino and
2 her husband, Steve; his many grandchildren and
3 great-grandchildren; his brother, Fred; and his many friends;
4 therefore, be it
 
5     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL
6 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with
7 his family and friends, the passing of Elmer Jenkins; and be it
8 further
 
9     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
10 presented to the family of Elmer Jenkins.